The Forgotten Past
by abcdinoman
Summary: Sometimes, when you find out who you really are, you wish you hadn't.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own F.E.A.R.

Chapter 1

I stood in the helicopter, looking out of the window at the massive mushroom cloud. A huge chunk of Auburn was now, more or less, toast, to put it lightly. I looked to my left. The F.E.A.R Point Man leaned on the wall casually, staring out at the destruction he had caused. Further to my left was Douglas Holiday, the SFOD-D demolition expert. To my right was Jin Kwon, the forensic scientist.

I can't really remember the first fifteen years of my life. The doctors said it was concentrated amnesia or something… I don't know. I also don't really know why I decided to join F.E.A.R.

I had just met the Point Man. Apparently; I was to be his teammate on the next mission. I wondered why he was so infamous. He seemed like a pretty normal guy to me.

"What about Alma?" inquired Jin, "What happened to her?"

_Thud!_ The chopper shook and the lights went out.

"What was that noise?" Jin said.

I saw someone's arm grab the side of the helicopter, and then everything went black.

My eyes shot open. I was surrounded by darkness, with the exception of a ring of fire surrounding me.

"You... You will pay..."

I looked around for the source of the voice. I saw a little girl wearing a red dress (who I assumed to be Alma) just outside the ring. But she wasn't looking at me.

I followed her gaze until I saw the point man! What was going on? And why did alma look so... familiar?

Suddenly four... Uh... Things appeared. They looked like dead people flying around. They flew towards the point man, who drew his assault rifle and began firing at a speed the that didn't seem physically possible!

But the... Things were still too fast, and he only managed to dispatch two of them before they were nearly upon him. I had to do something fast!

I reached for my pistol, but much to may dismay, I only had one bullet!

_Doesn't matter now_, I thought as I raised my pistol and aimed at one of the Things.

I missed. By a lot. So much that the bullet didn't even go near my selected target. So much that I shot Alma. In the face.

That was when Alma noticed me. The look of anger on her face changed to one of surprise.

"You! How... You! How did... How?" she shrieked. There was a flash, and she disappeared.

The next thing I knew, the sun was shining in my eyes. My eyes squinted as I pushed myself up off of the dusty pavement. Wait, where was the chopper? I looked to my left, and saw the smoldering remains of the helicopter.

I stood up and walked over to the wreckage. "Holy Crap!" I said. Next to the chopper was skeleton surrounded by a pool of blood. "What the heck happened?"

"Alma did this."

I spun around. The point man stood there. "What happened?" I said.

"Alma killed the pilot. I don't know where Douglas and Jin are."

I nodded. "What do we do now?"

Before he could answer, I heard a small girl's laughter nearby. I looked around, but didn't see anyone. The laughter grew louder.

"Run! She's coming!" shouted the point man.

And we ran, yet the laughter grew still louder. Suddenly, the point man stopped running. I pulled on his arm. "Come on! We have to go!"

But he just had a far away look in his eyes. I pulled on his arm harder. "We have to go now!"

Suddenly he stumbled forward and gasped, as if he had been pulled from a pool while drowning.

I heard laughter behind me, but this time it sounded like it came from an adult.

I turned around. Alma stood ten feet away. The adult Alma.

"We are so dead." I muttered.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own F.E.A.R.

Chapter 2

Searing pain shot through my head. I grabbed my head with my hands as if I had a headache and screamed at the top of my lungs. Alma was definitely messing with my mind. In fact, I could seem to feel her presence in my head. I wasn't sure how, but this seemed to trigger something in the back of my mind. My brain retaliated and forced Alma's presence from my mind. She screeched, stumbled back a few steps, and vanished.

The point man walked over to me. "How did you do that?" he asked.

"I just... I don't know..." I replied.

"Not even I could have done that! And I'm he-" He stopped in mid-sentence, looking rather uneasy.

"What? Are you ok? What is it?" I asked. He couldn't see my face because of my helmet, but if he could have, he would have known I was concerned.

"I'm not ready to admit that to anyone yet. Sorry." he said.

"I understand. For the first couple of weeks, I couldn't admit that I could not remember the first fifteen years of my life." I told him.

He looked up and smiled. "Thanks..." he said.

I realized that his helmet was gone. "What happened to your helmet?"

"It got smashed in the helicopter crash. Let's says that my head broke my fall."

"You landed on your head from that height and you're still alive?!" I exclaimed.

"You had it worse than me. You landed on your neck, and the chopper landed on top of you. When I dragged you out of the wreckage, I was sure you were dead! Not a scratch on you!"

This surprised me. I stayed quiet for a while after that. The point man stood up. When I thought about it, he seemed to be about the same age as me. Not that it mattered much.

"Didn't you check me for a pulse?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, "but you didn't have one."

"Oh..." I did a double take. "Wait, what?"

I reached up to my neck to feel for a pulse. I waited ten seconds. Nothing. No pulse. I began to panic. I put hand over my heart. I felt no pulse there either. I forced myself to calm down. "Would it disturb you if I said I still don't have a pulse?"

"No."

I was astonished. "May I ask why?"

"I've seen worse."

A gun fired nearby, and I gasped as pain ripped through my arm. Someone shot me! I ran to my left and took cover behind an overturned dumpster. A thought hit me. I didn't have a gun! As I looked around for a weapon, I happened to see where I got shot in the arm. I froze. I wasn't bleeding! There was a bullet wound, but no blood! First, I didn't have a pulse, and then I wasn't bleeding! What was next?

I heard more gunfire, and I saw the point man running across the street at an inhuman speed. He began firing his assault rifle at our unseen assailant. I heard a sickening splatter as the bullets hit their mark. I peered out over the top of the dumpster. A replica soldier lay dead in the street, blood pouring from several bullet holes in his head.

"Lovely..." I said. I walked up to the body and picked up the pistol he had shot me with. I also found a shotgun strapped to his back.

I looked at my arm again. The bullet hole was gone! There wasn't any sign of an injury!

"Where did that bullet wound go?" the point man asked.

"I don't know!" I exclaimed. "It wasn't bleeding, and it just disappeared!"

The point man just shrugged, as if it was normal.

"Why did you stop when we were running?"

The point man looked right at me. "You don't want to know. We have a bigger problem. The replicas haven't deactivated. Paxton Fettel controls them."

"So?"

"I put four bullets right between his eyes, but Fettel isn't dead."

A new voice broke in. "That is correct, brother."

I turned toward the voice, and saw a man who wore a leather vest and had blood smeared around his mouth. The man we called Paxton Fettel.

I didn't think. I immediately drew my shotgun and fired several shells at him, shouting, "Die, you inhuman cannibal freak!"

The shotgun shells didn't seem to do much. He didn't even flinch. He just laughed manically and said, "Imbecile..."

Suddenly I was lifted into the air, squirming to get free, and was slammed into a nearby building. Then everything went black. Again.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I opened my eyes, once again surrounded by darkness. The same ring of fire. But this time, there was a mirror floating in the middle of the ring. I looked into it.

"Looked at your true reflection lately?" a voice said.

Something started to pull my helmet off, but just before I could really see my face, the mirror shattered. Several large chunks shot out and embeded themselves in my chest and stomach. I screamed in pain. But I didn't bleed.

"You don't bleed."

Two of those ghost things appeared and flew at me. I drew my pistol and shot the both in the head, causing them to disappear.

"You have no heartbeat."

Two more ghosts flew at me. I shot them.

"You are dead."

This time ten ghosts flew at me. I began to panic. My aim faltered and I started firing randomly. I killed a few of the ghosts, but more appeared, and they began to circle around me menacingly. They flew faster and faster, emiting an ear-peirceing shreik. My vision began to blur, and I stumbled and fell my knees. I screamed again, clutching my head with my hands. My brain felt as though it was on fire.

There was a flash, and the pain stopped. My vision was still blurry, but I could see AT security soldiers in front of me. Maybe they new where we were. I began walking toward them, but one of them saw me and shouted, "Look out! It's him!"

They all turned and opened fire on me! I couldn't react in time, and I felt bullets peirce through my body. I tried to cry out in agony, but my mouth wouldn't open. I fell backward and felt my back hit cold, hard metal. As my vision began to fade, I saw a curved glass window slide in front of me.

I gasped for air as I realized I was once again on the pavement. The point man was standing next to me. I sat up and said, "What happened?"

"Fettel just disappeared after he slammed you on the wall, I don't know why. Due to your lack of a pulse, I didn't know if you if you were still alive."

"Oh. Why did Fettel call you his brother?" I asked.

He didn't answer. I could see he didn't like to talk about it.

Finally, he gave me an answer. "Because... I am... his brother."

"What? That isn't possible! That would mean..."

"Yes. Alma is my mother."

He let this sink in for a few minutes. After I calmed down, he said "You took that better than I expected."

"At least you know who your parents are. I have no idea who mine are, I mean-

"Shhh! Listen!"

I listened. I heard radio chatter. Which usually meant one thing. It meant Replicas.

"Targets sighted!"

I heard gunfire, and then pain all over my body. I shouted and fell forward, fumbling for my shotgun. I managed to regain my banlance and I spun around. There was a Replica right in front of me. I fired my shotgun upon him, and his body all but exploded.

The point man had been shooting Replicas all this time, but ten more came for each one we killed. Soon there was about eighty of them.

"I think," said the point man, "that we are outnumbered."

"No! What gave you that idea," I said sarcastically.

Suddenly, about thirty of the Replicas exploded. I looked up and saw a chopper coming our way. It killed several more of the replicas with a chain gun, and then hovered down next to us so we could climb on.

The pilot was Douglas Holiday.

"Get in! Now!"

We took off into the air, but before we could get far, something grabbed my ankle. I looked down, just in time to see Alma pull me from the helicopter.

I shouted as I fell, but I stopped falling. I looked up. The point man had caught me by the wrist. I began kicking Alma violently in the face with my free leg. The creepy part was that she started giggling when I kicked her, and the more I kicked her, the more she laughed. I kicked her some more, and she laughed some more.

I felt the point man try to pull me back into the chopper. Then, I realized that we were now extremely high above the city.

Alma grinned, and the point man lost his grip on my hand.

I plummeted toward the ground, all the while, Alma just kept laughing.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I hit the ground with a loud crack. I screamed in pain until my lungs ran out of air, but then the pain stopped. I looked at my body. It wasn't damaged in away way! Not even a broken bone!

"I'm... okay?"

I heard laughter to my left. I looked and saw Alma.

"You can't escape," she said, "You can never escape the truth."

I managed to stand up, and I turned and ran into a nearby building. Once inside, I saw that it was an old hotel. I dashed through the lobby, but Alma appeared in front of me. She grabbed me by the throat and held me up in the air.

"This is for betraying me!" she screamed.

She slammed through a nearby wall.

"This is for letting them do this to me!"

She punched me in the stomach and threw me to the floor.

"And this is for helping them!"

She lifted a nearby sofa and smashed it on top of me. Nothing was on my mind except how much pain I was in.

She stopped torturing me for the time being.

"I... I... don't know... what you... are talking about," I managed to cough out in between spasms.

Alma just started laughing again and disappeared, leaving me pinned under the couch. I groaned as I tried to squirm my way out from under it. What the heck had Alma been talking about? It didn't make any sense. I groaned again. My vision was getting blurry. I struggled again to free myself from the couch, but to no avail. I blacked out.

I found myself looking into the mirror again. I heard giggling coming from all directions, and my helmet shot off.

I saw my reflection. My hair was dark black and my eyes were red. Like Alma's were.

My reflection terrified me, but to an even greater extent, enraged me. As if by instinct, my hands shot toward the mirror, firing flames from my fingertips, and engulfing the mirror.

I awoke with a start. The couch was no longer on top of me, but it lay overturned and on fire nearby. I sat up, and I felt extremely angry. I couldn't explain it. All I could feel was a violent, boiling rage building in my body. I tried to calm down, but I could take it no longer. My hands shot forward uncontrollably as flames flew from them, incinerating anything they touched. Soon the whole lobby was on fire.

My rage faded away, and I stood there, looking at what I had just done.

"Oh my God..."

I couldn't get the image I had seen in the mirror out of my mind. I was certain that it had just been Alma trying to mess with my head, but it terrified me anyway.

The flames were creeping closer to me. I spun around searching for an exit. The front door was already engulfed by the fire. I saw a staircase and sprinted up it. I only got to the sixth floor, because the staircase was blocked off after that. I tried to open the door to re-enter the main building, but the door was locked!

I looked around for another way out. The flames crept closer. I only had one option of escape: nothing. I screamed in frustration and slammed my fists on the wall. I gasped as my hands passed through it and so did the rest of my body. I screamed as I tumbled toward the ground. The whole area I fell toward was on fire. Just before I fell into the raging flames, I stopped falling. Something lifted me and set me down on the pavement nearby.

I saw Alma standing over me.

"Do you know why I saved you?"

The world went black.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I was standing in an open field. I didn't seem to be able to control my movements, so I assumed that it was a memory of some sort, possibly from the first fifteen to eighteen years of my life.

In front of me was a rope swing attached to an old tree. On that swing was a little girl in a red dress. I was pushing her, and she was laughing with joy.

What the heck was going on? Why was Alma happy? It didn't make sense!

I heard a car door slam nearby. I heard shouting, and someone grabbed me and slammed me to the ground. I tried to stand back up, but someone had me pinned to the ground. I saw ATC workers grab Alma and start to drag her away she srceamed and at them.

"What are you doing? Stop! No!" I screamed as I tried to reach out and help her.

I felt something stick into my arm. I started to feel very tired. Just as everything faded, I heard someone say, "Don't worry, it's for the best, son."

My vision refocused. I was standing in front of Alma, who was strapped to a lab table. She looked several years older than before, and was obviously in an uncomprehendable amount of pain. She turned her head and looked at me with pleading eyes.

"Help... me..." she said weakly.

I moved forward to untie her, but something hit the back of my head, knocking me to the floor. As I sat up, I saw a man wearing a white lab coat. He was holding a metal pipe in hand.

"I can't let you do that," he said.

He swung the pipe down on my head.

My eyes opened slowly. I was slumped over in a hospital chair. I heard screaming. I leapt up and ran toward it.

"Where are you taking him?" someone screamed.

I ran faster. I reached the source of the screaming. On the other side of a glass wall was a delivery room. I saw Alma screaming at a scientist carrying a baby.

"No! Give me back my baby!" she cried.

I searched for a door. I found one next to something that I recognized as a prototype hibernation tube.

I turned around to see ATC soldiers nearby.

"There he is! Look out!"

They opened fire upon me, and I stumbled backward into the hibernation tube. It closed on me.

I awoke, gasping for air. What the heck had just happened? In my "memories," why had I tried to help Alma?

I stood up, perplexed by what I had just seen. I looked at my surroundings. I didn't see the hotel anywhere.

My body was tingling with subdued rage, as if it were waiting for the perfect moment to break free.

I stumbled my way down the street, trying to suppress my anger.

I heard a familiar noise behind me. The sound a gun makes when someone is preparing it to fire.

There was a bang, and I turn to see a single Replica fire his pistol at me. Everything seemed to slow down as my rage rushed forth. The bullet appeared to be moving so slow that I could see it flying at me. Without thinking, I immediately stepped out the the bullet's way and raised my hands at the Replica. Everything returned to normal speed and flames shot from my hands. The Replica screamed as he burned and blood began to splatter everywhere.

He was horrific pain, and I was enjoying it. I started laughing. It was low, malicious laughter, unlike any laughter I had ever experienced before.

When I finally stopped, there was nothing left of the Replica but blood and a scorched skeleton.

I realized what I had just done. I had killed a man and taken extreme pleasure in do it. I gasped and fell to my knees.

"What am I?"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I looked at my body. The Replica's blood was splattered all over my armor.

"What's happening to me?" I said as it started to rain.

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. It was the point man.

"What the heck just happened? Are you alright?" he said.

I stood up. "Stay away from me. Please, don't come any closer."

The point man kept walking toward me.

"Please! Just stay away!" I shouted at him.

He didn't listen to my warnings. He kept walking. I had to do something before I accidentally killed him. I turned and ran down the street. The rain was falling heavily, making it hard to see where I was going.

I ran around a corner, coming face to face with one of those ghost things. I screamed as it stabbed one of its arms through my chest. It slammed me to the ground, using the other arm to try to smash my helmet. The glass in my visor cracked in several places. It slammed the arm down again, cracking the glass even further. It swung the arm a third time, but it was too late. I was angry. I grabbed the arm in mid-swing, ripping it from the ghost's torso. I threw it to the side, smashing my palm on the ghost's face. It burst into flames. The arm in my chest dislodged itself and slammed into my helmet one last time before the ghost disintegrated. The glass shattered and my helmet rolled off.

I heard footsteps, and I leapt up and fired flames in that direction before I realized what I was doing.

The point man screamed. It was the most horrific scream I had ever heard. It was the scream of a man who had never had a reason to scream before. Even in my rage, it made me shudder.

The smoke and fire cleared. What I saw astonished me. The point man stood there, his armor was completely scorched, but he was otherwise unscathed. He just stared blankly.

"How..." he managed to say before he collapsed from exhaustion.

I heard a chopper land nearby. Several SFOD-D soldiers came into view. I just stood there, stunned by my recent actions.

"Don't move!" the soldiers shouted, pointing their guns at me.

Before I knew what was going on, something hit the back of my head.

I woke up in a room with white wall, a wire floor, and a white ceiling. I could hear voices.

"Keep him locked up. We'll keep him subdued on sedatives if we have to." I recognized the voice. It was the main coordinator of F.E.A.R., Commander Betters!

"No! You don't understand! If you do that, you'll just create another enemy!" That was definitely the point man's voice.

"You have no say in this matter. We can't let a guy who can incinerate people on a whim waltzing around freely. Did you even look at his face? He looks almost exactly like Alma!"

Then it hit me. They were talking about me! I could fell myself getting angry. So they thought I was a threat, did they? They thought the only possible solution was to lock me up?

I was furious. The room burst into flames. I didn't even have to use my hands to start the fire. It just happened.

Suddenly, I felt several needles stick into my body. I knew they had just injected military-grade sedatives. I wouldn't be able to stay awake more than ten seconds...

"Sad, isn't it?" Alma's voice drifted from somewhere in the darkness.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said.

"Of course you do. Doesn't it anger you that they lied to you? That they locked you up, just because you are different?"

"What do you want from me?"

"I want you to remember. I want you to remember what you could have stopped."

I heard screaming coming from all directions, and I felt pain all over my body. The screaming and the pain increased to an unbearable level. I felt like I was being crushed by it.

Without warning, it stopped. I opened my eyes. The point man stood over me, pulling a needle out of my arm.

"You have to get out of here. They'll be here any minute. Go!" he said.

I stood up and ran to the door. I stopped and turned.

"Why did you help me?" I asked.

He looked directly at me. "I have my reasons," he replied. "Go!"

I ran out into the hall. I heard shouting coming from one end, and ran the other way.

Something didn't feel right. I looked down. I was wearing jeans and a red shirt! They must have taken my armor! I would definitely be recognized if anyone saw me. I had to hurry.

The shouting grew louder, and I frantically looked for a place to hide. I didn't see any, so I kept running. I didn't want to kill anyone.

The shouting turned to screaming. I spun around. There were several skeletons on the ground, blood was splattered all over the corridor, and in the center of it, stood Alma.

"I told you that you couldn't escape," she said.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I sprinted away from Alma, a cold sweat breaking out on my skin. I could hear her laughter right behind me. At the end of the hallway I saw a door that led to a stairwell. I dashed through it, practically leaping down the first flight of stairs. I dashed around the corner to the next flight.

My step faltered as I realized my mistake, and fell, screaming, down the steps, right into the grasp of Alma's cold arms.

The world around me seemed to swirl away into darkness. My body felt like it was being ripped to pieces. My mind screamed for mercy, barely withstanding an abyssal emptiness that would have driven most people insane.

I couldn't move. I couldn't scream. I couldn't even breathe.

An ear-splitting scream wafted from somewhere in the emptiness, soon followed by other horrific sounds of agony and terror.

Pure fear shot through my heart. It was not the regular fear of something that might happen. It wasn't a fear of death, either. It was the fear that is brought on by something that can never be explained.

That is the only way it can be described.

Suddenly, it stopped. I was curled up in the fetal position on the floor of a warehouse, shivering.

"Do you know who you are?" I heard Alma say.

"What do you remember from your childhood?"

I shivered again. I could remember nothing.

"Who are your parents?"

I did not know that. I tried to ignore her voice.

"What is your name?"

I felt as though an icicle had been stabbed through my heart. I didn't even know my own name!

"Where were you born?"

"Shut up!" I screamed as I leapt from the ground, launching flames in her direction.

The flames stopped and died out before they even touched her. She just grinned and raised her hands in my direction.

The lights in the room we were in began to flicker. The walls seemed to distort into hideous shapes.

My brain felt like it had been hit by a sledgehammer. Alma was attempting a mental assault! I dropped to my knees, screaming, as the bludgeoning pain increased.

It soon became unbearable. With my last few ounces of mental willpower, I gave her presence the hardest shove I could muster.

Apparently, Alma had not expected this. I felt her onslaught cease, and suddenly, I seemed to be able to see into her mind.

She screamed.

My vision blurred, and when it refocused, I was standing in a holding cell, and Alma was strapped onto a table again.

"Please... Let me out," she begged.

"I can't," I said, "Father said it was better this way."

I turned and walked to the door.

"No!" she screamed, "Please! Don't leave me! Please don't leave me, brother!"

I was back in the warehouse. I slid to the floor, stunned.

Alma stood several feet away, looking very content.

"Do you remember now?"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"You promised," Alma said.

I found myself standing in the field with the swing again. I was pushing Alma on the swing as I said, "I'll protect you, Alma. Always. I promise."

Darkness surrounded me.

"You lied," I heard Alma say. "You betrayed me."

I saw Alma screaming in pain, strapped into some kind of machine. She was crying for me to help her, but I just stood there, fighting the urge to rush to her aid.

I watched coldly as needles were injected into her skin. A scientist came towards her with a syringe in his hand, and she screamed, begging once more for my help.

"No," my voice was bitter.

Alma's eyes widened. She shouted in anger and tried to lash out at the scientist. The scientist laughed as he plunged the needle into Alma's arm.

Alma screamed. The scientist let go of the syringe and clutched his head in his hands. My head began to hurt, and my vision started to turn red. And suddenly...

I was back on the floor of the warehouse.

"You let them hurt me," Alma said.

I gasped. I didn't want to believe her, but somehow I knew it was true. Alma was approaching me slowly. I scooted across the floor in an attempt to keep my distance from her.

She screamed, as the entire building began to shudder. Rubble fell from the ceiling, and the whine of buckling metal could be heard.

I knew I had to get out of there quickly. I leapt up and sprinted towards a door, but as soon as I opened it, Alma stood on the other side of the doorway. I turned and fled from her. I looked desperately for another exit, but I noticed something out of place. Alma looked terrified, and she was crying.

"Please, Brother. Stop running away!" she sobbed.

I was stunned. Alma was crying? She stumbled forward and pulled me in a cold embrace, still sobbing.

Part of me was screaming at me to complete my mission and kill her. But for some reason, my other half wouldn't let me do it.

"Please! Don't let them get me!" she screamed. "I don't want to go back!"

I was to busy with an internal conflict to answer. More memories of my forgotten past were returning, waging war with my current memories. I remembered the horrible things they did to Alma, but I also knew how many people she had murdered.

"Why do you help them!" she cried, "After what they did to you, why?"

I was confused. What was she talking about?

"Don't you remember? They killed you!"

"What?" I excalaimed.

And then I let out a gasp. I remembered.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The bullets ripped through my skin. ATC was shooting me! I stumbled backward and tripped over something. I screamed as the bullets continued to rip through me.

My body hit something metal. I gasped. I had landed in the hibernation tube. I was bleeding profusely, and I could feel death's voice at my ear. Everything was becoming fuzzy. I was going to die!

The machine activated. The glass door slid shut, and everything began to get cold. Very cold...

And then I understood. I had been dying, but the hibernation tube must have activated. It kept me alive... Sort of. I must have lost my memories when I "died".

Alma let out an ear piercing screech, shaking the entire building.

"No! No! No! No!" she screamed. "I didn't mean to do it! I didn't want to kill all those people!"

She screamed again and disappeared. Her scream echoed through the warehouse. And then the ghosts appeared.

About fifteen of them.

I yelled as they surged violently toward me, blue blood gushing from their open wounds.

They spiraled around me screeching. Waiting, just waiting.

And then one of them dove at me. It came from the right, attempting to slice me in half. I grabbed one of its lethal arms and slammed it to the ground, grinding its head into the cement with my foot.

Sharp pain streaked through my stomach. I screamed as a ghost's dagger-like arm protruded its way out of my body. I could feel myself getting furious.

I swung my leg up behind me and kicked the monstrosity as viciously as I could. It dislodged itself from my stomach with gurgle.

Then all of them dove at me from multiple directions. They hacked and sliced at my body.

My rage flooded forth.

Flames shot from my hands at the ghosts, knocking them back. A few of them dissipated, but many of them swooped back down to finish the job.

I suddenly achieved a new level of anger. The flames spewing from my hands turned a brilliantly lethal color of blue as I slowly floated off of the floor.

The flames swirled around me, striking out at any ghost that came near. I yelled involuntarily as I unleashed a barrage of fire and death upon the ghosts. They screeched wretchedly as they slowly dissipated.

The flames quickly died out and I fell back to the floor, exhausted. I tried to stand up, but I only walked a few steps before I fell back to the hard cement.

"Target sighted!" some one shouted.

I looked to see several replica soldiers approaching with their weapons ready. I tried to move away, but I was too exhausted.

There was a loud bang. Blood splattered from the head of one of the replicas. He crumpled. The pointman stood behind them, aiming his machine gun.

They spun around and screamed as he mowed them down with ease.

I heard Alma scream and the building shook, rubble falling from the ceiling.

The pointman appeared at my side.

"We have to go! Now! This building is coming down around us!" he shouted.

I managed to get to my feet.

"No," I said.

"What!" he exclaimed.

"I've got to try to end this, once and for all." I replied.

"But-"

"No! I'm staying."

Before he could say anything else, I turned and hobbled down the hallway.

Concrete and rebar were falling to the ground around me. I knew there wasn't much time.

I saw Alma at the end of the hall. She was still screaming. I drew closer.

"No! Don't hurt me!" she screamed. "I'm sorry!"

She had tears streaking down her cheeks.

I winced in pain as my vision began turning red.

"Alma."

She kept screaming. The pain worsened.

"Alma."

The pain was becoming unbearable. My vision was streaking violently with red.

"Alma!"

She looked at me. I knew I would die if I didn't hurry.

I looked at her directly in the eyes and said:

"I forgive you."

**END.**


End file.
